Silver Part 5

2002

"I can't believe you let him cut you!" Erin said, not for the first time.

"What was I supposed to do, Erin?" I said in exasperation. It was midmorning and Erin hadn't left me alone since we got up. "Leave the homing chip alone and let God-knows-what find us?"

"How do you know it's really gone?" she persisted. "How do you know he didn't just mess your arm up worse and miss the chip altogether?"

"My arm is no worse than it was yesterday," I explained with fading patience, "and no, I can't be sure it's really gone, but I trust Silver. And, geez, what else was I supposed to do?"

"But he's—he's thirteen for Christ's sake, and—he's—he's—"

"—Not normal?" I finished for her. "Shit, Erin, if he'd been a normal thirteen year old, you and I would still be in that lab."

"Yeah," she admitted, reluctantly, "and I'm grateful to him for that—"

"Oh, really? Maybe you could act like it every now and then."

"Dammit, Eddie, don't give me that," she snapped.

"Have you even thought about thanking him?"

"Yeah, well—well, never mind that, it doesn't have anything to do with you letting him cut into your arm. What were you thinking?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was thinking that if I left that homing chip in there I'd be back in that lab before I knew what hit me. Jesus Christ, Erin, what's your problem with him?"

She folded her arms nervously. "Don't you . . . don't you wonder about him sometimes? I mean, what do we know of him? His past?"

"Just that he ran away—but seriously, what do most people know about yours? Or mine? Not talking about the past doesn't make someone suspect. Not here."

"Not normally, but with Silver . . . he just acts so strange. And all that stuff he knows—Tori said he rewired an alarm in the dark. In the dark, Eddie. And when was the last time you saw someone with metallic hair? And it's not dye, I've never seen any roots."

"What's your point, Erin? It's not like I haven't noticed this."

"With everything he knows about that lab and what they were doing—you guys had a pretty long conversation yesterday, I know he told you more about your arm—don't you think . . . don't you think he could be connected to them, somehow?"

I hadn't put my finger on it until then but that had been bothering me since the night before. "And what if he is? What's that going to change?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Doesn't the thought just kinda . . . bother you?"

"Why should it? Besides, we don't know if he is."

"How would you explain him knowing so much and being able to do so much?"

"Child prodigy? Who cares, Erin. It doesn't make any difference."

I'd meant what I said but I couldn't help but think about it. It would make sense with the little I knew about his past. But while it might explain the scars on his arms and his knowledge of the implants, it didn't explain anything else about him. And besides, I reminded myself, it didn't matter. Even so, I couldn't help wondering.

I left Erin on the second floor and went down to the first. Mike, Surge, and Tori had gone out to find us somewhere else to stay—we wanted to keep moving—so I was only expecting to find Silver. Tori must have come back early, because she was leaning over and talking to Silver when I came down. Silver was sitting on the floor with the pieces of the tracking remote spread out in front of him. He'd been dissecting it since before any of the rest of us had gotten up.

Tori looked up and tossed me a pre-wrapped gas station sandwich. "Here, catch!"

I caught it one-handed, since my left didn't get there in time, and went over to see what they were talking about.

"Do you think we could sell this stuff?" Tori was saying.

"Probably," Silver answered. "It's high-end technology and the components should sell for a good price."

"What were you looking for when you took that apart?" I asked as I sat down and unwrapped the sandwich.

Silver pushed his hair back and glanced at me. "I wanted to see if it had any sort of manufacturer's signature, and see if they had a way of tracking it."

I stopped chewing for a moment. That hadn't occurred to me. "Was there?"

He gestured to a smashed computer chip. "I found it last night before I went to sleep."

"Damn." Tori shook her head. "I'm glad somebody's thinking of those things. Oh, where's Erin and the brats?"

"Upstairs," I said. "Found anything yet?"

"Nah, not yet. But I got hungry, and I figured you guys might be getting hungry, too, so. . . ." She shrugged, and headed for the stairs.

"Thanks," I called after her.

Silver took a bite of his own sandwich and sorted out a few more of the tracking remote pieces. It looked like just a mess of electronics to me but the chips and wires seemed to be making sense to him. "Tori's right, you know," I said. "If it weren't for you thinking of stuff like this we wouldn't have a chance."

He made an indistinct noise around a mouthful of food.

I leaned back against the wall and concentrated on eating and trying to figure out what we could do from here. We had a pretty sweet deal at The Pit and it was not going to be easy living without that.

"Doesn't it bother you that I can think along these lines?"

"What?" I looked back over at Silver. He was looking at me sideways, though his hair.

"I know it bothers Erin, and I can understand why."

"Damn—you could hear that? Just how good is your hearing?"

He turned to face me. "Probably better than you think." He just stared at me, waiting for an answer. I couldn't make out his expression.

I started to answer, but then stopped. I wanted to tell him it didn't bother me, but I found I couldn't.

I was saved for the moment when Mike showed up. "Where's everyone else?" he asked.

"Upstairs," I said. "Tori, too. She just got back."

"She find anything?"

I shook my head. "Nothing yet."

"I have, maybe. Surge is outside—I'll go get the others."

Silver was already putting the pieces of the tracking remote into his pockets. He grabbed what was left of his sandwich and headed for the door. I caught up with him when he paused to put on his baseball cap, but I didn't get a chance to say anything before everyone came down from upstairs.

We gathered outside and Mike told us about the building he'd found. We wouldn't be the only ones there, but it seemed to be safe. We decided it would be better if we didn't go all together; Mike would take Erin and Jimmy, and Surge would follow with the rest of us.

"This seem a little . . . uneven to anyone else?" I commented after Mike, Erin and Jimmy left.

Surge snorted and looked at me over the rim of his shades. "You want to go even it up?"

"Me? Erin's been a pain in the ass to me all morning." The day was overcast and chilly, so I pulled on a sweatshirt. "I'm much happier not having to deal with her for a while."

Tori stopped me when I reached back to pull my braid out of the sweatshirt. "That makes you very recognizable, you know."

"Huh? My braid? Yeah, I guess it does." I left my hair where it was and pulled the hood up instead.

"Well, yeah, duh, how many guys do you think have hair as long as yours? I mean, if those lab psychos are looking for you, you don't want to make it any easier for them."

I saw Surge take a discreet glance back at Silver when Tori said this. Silver was hanging back in the doorway with his face hidden behind the bill of his cap, so I don't know if he noticed.

"Well anyway," Surge said, shrugging and pushing his shades up on his nose, "we can get going. We'll just take the long way. I hate standing around."

"Has Erin really been that bad?" Tori asked me as she took Jess' hand and followed Surge.

I rolled my eyes. "No, she's been worse. I really don't know what her problem is." I actually did, I just didn't think it should be a problem, not to the degree Erin was making it.

"I'm not surprised she's on edge—Jess, you doof, if you watch where you're going you won't trip."

"I know, I know." Jess quickly recovered from her stumble with Tori's help and stopped twisting around to look at Silver.

I glanced back; Silver was trailing a few paces behind us, with his head down and his hands stuffed in his pockets. He'd pulled the hood of his windbreaker up but had left front of the jacket open, as if he wasn't bothered by the chill air.

"As I was saying," Tori continued, "Erin has a right to be on edge but she doesn't need to take it out on the rest of us."

"Erin's always bitched at whoever was nearby," Surge commented.

"Yeah, but she's been so much worse lately."

Our talk turned to other things as we walked. It was almost enough to make me forget what I'd been through. Tori and Surge were significantly younger than I was, but I felt closer to them than I did to anyone my own age. I considered Erin and Mike friends, but not close ones. Silver didn't join in on our conversations, and in fact made his presence felt as little as possible. He was like a shadow, always there a few paces behind us, looking down and not saying a word.

As much as we would have liked to just keep going we had to stop every now and then to let me rest. I had thought I was all right, but I obviously hadn't recovered from my three-day stay at the lab. One of the times we stopped was at an old playground in a small lot stuck between two apartment buildings. Jess went to play on the swings, and I sat down on a bench to catch my breath while everyone else loitered around.

I was watching with amusement as a passing mother herded her children away from us when the sound of screeching tires and air brakes drew my attention. A reckless hovercar driver—probably an arrogant rich kid—was swerving around a small shipping truck, causing the truck and several other cars to hit their breaks. I wouldn't have paid it any more mind except that the logo on the side of the truck looked familiar: an atom on a gear, over a leaf. In a rush I remembered where I had first seen the logo, on a box Jake was carrying, and what Silver had told me about the company it belonged to. The connection caused me to think that maybe people really were out looking for Erin and me. It was a very sobering thought. Something of this must have shown on my face, because the next thing I knew Surge was tapping my shoulder and asking if I was okay.

"Yeah," I answered, turning away as the truck disappeared down the street, "yeah, I'm fine."

"Really? You were looking kinda pale."

"I'm all right." I stood. "We can get going now."

"You sure? 'Cause, y'know, I'd hate for you to suddenly pass out or something."

I shook my head. "I'm not going to—"

"'Cause y'know if that happened, we might just have to leave you there, 'cause I don't think any of us could carry you."

"Um. . . ."

"Maybe we'd be able to drag you along. . . ."

"Surge. . . ."

"But at the very least we'd push you over to the side so you don't get stepped on."

I finally punched his shoulder.

He dodged away, laughing. I had to chuckle.

"You guys," Tori admonished. "Let's just go. Anyone see where Silver went?"

I glanced around the playground, startled. "When did he take off?"

"A minute ago? I dunno, I was watching the cars."

"He's over there," Jess called from the swings. She was pointing at a dumpster that was against the side of one of the apartment buildings.

We found Silver on the side away from the street, crouching in the corner made by the dumpster and the wall. He was almost huddled there, with his forehead resting on his hands, which were folded over his knees.

"Silver?" I said, looking at him with concern. "You okay?"

"I-I'm f-f-f—" He stopped, then said, very deliberately, "I'm fine." As if to prove it he rose to his feet in one fluid motion, and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Tori gave me a dubious look. She was probably thinking much the same thing I was: that didn't sound "fine." Silver most likely missed it, since he was still looking down. "Well, we should get going," Tori said.

"Is something wrong with your eyes, Silver?" Jess asked. She'd slipped in between Tori and Surge. Silver shook his head. "You've been squinting since we left," she persisted. "Do they hurt or something?"

"Is that why you keep looking down?" I asked.

Surge leaned over to glance under Silver's cap and let out an exasperated sigh. "Geez. . . ." He pulled a second pair of shades out of his pocket and shoved them at Silver. "Here. You could have just said something."

Silver muttered a thanks and put the shades on.

"Can we go now?" Tori said.

I saw Silver look quickly up and down the street as we left. I decided to hang back to talk to him and let the others go ahead. "Is it too bright or something?" I asked. I couldn't help but glance at the cloud cover.

He took out a pack of cigarettes and shook one out. He got several disapproving looks from the people we passed as he lit up. "My eyes are sensitive."

"Surge is right, you know. All you had to do was say something to get a pair of shades from somebody."

He didn't say anything. I wasn't surprised.

"Is that why you hardly went out during the day?"

"Yeah."

I wanted to ask him about the truck. Just mentioning the logo to him before had been enough to make him look frightened for an instant. I wanted to know if seeing the logo on the truck had been what scared him now. I wanted to tell him that it had scared me. But I didn't think he'd be likely to talk about it.

"What I don't get," I said instead, "is how you've gone this long without getting a pair of shades."

"I could go out at night."

"I always figured you did that to avoid people."

He shrugged.

"Of course, as pale as you are, people might start to think you're a vampire or something."

He gave me an odd look, the shades making it that much harder to read.

"They never go out in the day, either, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone started waving crosses at you, or garlic—"

One corner of his mouth twitch into what was almost a smile. "Eddie," he interrupted evenly, "you're being ridiculous."

I grinned. "Yeah, I know."

He glanced at me again, and I briefly saw a definite smile cross his face before he brought the cigarette up to his mouth.

"You don't need to walk five paces behind us, you know. Nobody's going to mind if you walk with us instead."

He took a long drag on the cigarette and blew out the smoke before answering. "All right."

We caught up with the Tori, Jess, and Surge at a corner. While we waited for the light to change the people around us either eyed us warily or edged away and avoided looking our way all together. One man looked disapprovingly at Silver's cigarette and then glared at me as if it was all my fault. I only smiled. That was about the time the light changed.

"So what is this place you guys found, Surge?" I asked as we crossed the street.

"I found it," Surge said defensively, lacing his hands together behind his head, "Mike was following me. Anyway, it's an old church building. Pretty run down, but, y'know," he shrugged, "it's still standing. There were maybe ten people there, even a few I recognized from The Pit."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"Tim and Ann. They left right after you disappeared," he explained, glancing at me around his elbow. "I dunno if they already knew about this place or not, but it looks like they got there pretty quick." Tim and Ann weren't kids I knew well.

Our conversation drifted, as before. Silver didn't say much, but at least he stuck around, and with the shades now he would look somewhere other than the ground. I noticed he was often looking toward the street. I was, too—often enough that Tori noticed and asked me what the deal was.

"Nothing," I said quickly. Apparently too quickly.

She gave me a look. "Eddie. . . ."

"I'll tell you later, okay?"

Surge lowered his arms and looked at me again. "This wouldn't have anything to do with that truck, would it?"

"Later."

Tori exchanged a glance with Surge, then looked at Silver. "You—okaaay, never mind. Forget I said anything."

Silver had closed off. He was practically broadcasting a message of "don't mess with me; don't even talk to me." It was strange and a bit disturbing to see him like that again, especially since he hadn't been like that a moment ago. I was just glad the shades hid his eyes or he'd really be giving me the creeps.

When we got to the old church I collapsed onto one of the few remaining pews. I could see Erin and Mike across the room but I couldn't be bothered to go that far. Tori and Jess met up with them and Surge was talking to some of the other people there, and I think Silver disappeared into an alcove. I didn't see him for awhile.

After few minutes Surge leaned over the back of the pew. "So is it 'later' yet?"

"What? Oh." I had spaced out and it took me a second to remember what he was talking about. I glanced around and saw that nobody else was close by and sighed. "I guess. Silver knows more than I do—"

"Like hell I'm going to ask him right now." Surge came around and sat down next to me.

"I know. Well, Jake carried in a box with the same logo as the truck, just before Erin went missing. Silver told me when I described it to him that it belonged to a company that does some illegal work with genetics and stuff. I think they were supplying that lab somehow. They're called Biotech-something—I don't remember. When I saw the truck it reminded me, made me think they might really be out looking. . . . Well, anyway, that's why I was acting funny. Doesn't really explain Silver, though."

"What ever does? Man, that kid is scary sometimes. Anyway," he said, pointing to a small clump of people across the room, "Mike's figuring out where we sleep tonight. A lot of the rooms here have too many leaks in the ceiling, and nobody wants 'em when it looks like it's going to rain."

"Okay. I'm not going anywhere for awhile so just let me know."

I did get up to get some food (and take care of some other necessities) but otherwise I didn't move the rest of the afternoon. I even took a nap. It was a nice change. Mike and Erin came to see how I was doing and we talked a bit, and Tim and Ann came by to say hi, but that was about it. The rest of the day was peaceful.

The eight of us got a room to ourselves in the far back corner of the building. Silver reappeared sometime that evening but he still wouldn't talk to anyone. He wasn't so much hostile as aggressively withdrawn, but the effect was the same. We all left him alone.

None of us felt secure so we decided to take turns keeping watch. It was well into my watch (which was shorter than it should have been because Tori woke me up late), when I heard a small noise that made me look over at Silver. He was sleeping in the corner next to where I was sitting, curled up under his windbreaker, which he had pulled up to his nose. It made him look almost child-like, which was a startling contrast to how he was awake. Nothing looked amiss, though, so I went back to trying to redo the lower half of my braid. The whole thing needed to be redone, but I was having enough trouble with the part I could see.

Silver made a small whimper and shifted onto his back, throwing off his jacket partway. I paused again and watched him. His face was in shadow, but he seemed tense.

"Nnnnh. . . ." He shifted again, pushing against the wall. "Le . . . leav . . . mmh. . . ." He flipped partway onto his side, toward me. "N-nno! G-go aweh. . . ."

I reached over to wake him. As soon as I touched his arm his eyes snapped open and he leapt up, causing me to jump. His shoulder collided with the wall and he just stood there for a moment, looking dazed, before he slid down to the floor and buried his face in his hands.

"Damn, Silver," I whispered. "You okay?"

He started to nod, but instead gave a very small shake of his head.

"That must have been one hell of a nightmare."

A small nod.

"You, um, want to talk about it, or anything?"

He didn't move for a long time, and I eventually went back to my braid. Then he rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around his legs.

"W-when I r-r-r. . . ." He stopped and rested his head against his knees for a moment, as if to collect himself. "When I ran away," he started again as he looked up, speaking so softly I could barely hear him, "it . . . wasn't easy. People came after me. I ran and hid f-for a long time. I got away from them, but sometimes . . . s-sometimes, i-in my d-d-dreams, I . . . don't." He lowered his head again, then reached up and shoved his hair out of his face. It fell back as soon as he lowered his hand, the silvery strands catching the light coming in from the one window that wasn't boarded up.

I didn't know what to say to that. I was trying to imagine where he could have lived that people would come after him like that. Then something hit me. "This . . . wouldn't have been triggered by that truck we saw before . . . would it?"

He just sat there with his face pressed against his knees.

"Well, anyway," I said, turning back to my braid, "if it's giving you nightmares like that, it must have been a pretty hellish place to grow up, wherever it was."

I think I heard him sniff once but other than that he was quiet for a long time. Eventually he rubbed a hand across his eyes and turned to watch what I was doing. "How's your arm?" he asked after a minute.

"I'm starting to figure it out. It'll be a while before I can braid my hair right, though," I added with some frustration. I'd just dropped two sections of the braid and had to sort them out. Again.

"You might not have as much fine motor control as you did before," he said. "The implants aren't as . . . precise."

He paused, but seemed like he wanted to say something more so I kept quiet.

"Hey, Eddie," he said carefully, after a moment, "how did you lose your family?"

I stopped and looked at him. I couldn't see what that had to do with anything, and it wasn't something I liked to talk about. I considered saying just that, but he looked so honest and open for once and I didn't want him to close off again. So I sighed, and went back to braiding while I thought about what to say.

"My brother and I were coming back from a basketball game at the local rec center. It was late, and dark. As soon as we turned onto our street we could see the lights from the police cars, but we didn't believe they were around our house until we got closer. There was a big crowd of people, all of our neighbors, and the yard was blocked off with police tape, but we were able to get up close. Close enough to see the body bags. . . ." I had to stop there for a moment. In ten years I had only talked about this once or twice. "There were three," I continued when I had my voice again. "Our parents and our baby sister. We learned later they'd been shot. Linda—my sister—had just been in the way.

"Will—my brother—grabbed my hand and pulled me away. It was a long time before we stopped. When we did, he told me that our parents had told him that if anything happened to them we were to disappear. I still don't know what they got messed up in." I snapped a few strands of hair by pulling too sharply at a knot and paused to calm down. "They didn't tell Will that much, or he didn't want me to know. But whatever it was came back and got them in a big way. So we disappeared. And here I am, ten years later."

"What . . . what happened to your brother?" Silver asked softly.

"Got tired of me hanging around him, I guess. He took off after a few years, and I haven't seen him since. I don't know why. That . . . wasn't like him."

Silver rested his chin on his knees and watched me. "It must've been hard . . . to lose them like that."

"Yeah . . . but life goes on, y'know? Not much else we can do."

He brushed his hair out of his face and turned to look out the window. "I . . . I never had parents."

I glanced at him. "Really? What happened to them?"

He shrugged. "I never had any." He was quiet for a moment. "The . . . the people I grew up around," he said, "they didn't care about me. They'd do almost anything to keep me from leaving, but . . . th-they didn't care about me." He wrapped his arms tighter around his knees and turned his face into his elbow. "They didn't even give me a name."

"What?" I looked at him incredulously. "You don't have a name?"

He shook his head against his arm. "They didn't think I needed one."

"Holy shit! I thought you just didn't like your name or something." I shook my head. "I never thought you actually didn't have one. What did they call you?"

He looked back out the window. "They had different ways of referring to me. It doesn't matter now."

"I guess not." I shook my head again and turned back to my braid. "Though I would think you'd want something other than a name you picked up on the streets."

"Why? I like 'Silver'."

"Yeah, but . . . you're named after your hair."

He shrugged. "That's the first thing everyone notices anyway."

"But still . . . geez. That place really must've been hell."

"Yeah."

He fell silent again. I still didn't know why the logo scared him so much, but I was starting to have ideas. It struck me then just how much he had told me—I had never heard him talk about himself like that.

"I'm not going to get back to sleep," he said, suddenly. "You might as well get some rest."

I got as far as I was going to get on my braid and tied it off. "Tori wakes me up late, and now you want to take your watch early. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was a conspiracy."

"It's only a half hour early," he countered. I glanced at the watch on the floor next to me and saw he was right. "You need the rest."

"Yeah, all right," I said, resigned. I handed him the watch and pulled a jacket around me, then tried to find a comfortable spot on the floor. "Goodnight then, Silver."

"Goodnight Eddie."

It didn't occur to me until much later to wonder how he had known what the time was before he could see the watch.